7 Holy, Holy, Holy: Isaiah 6
7
Holy, Holy, Holy
Isaiah 6
The phone rings. You know who it is; you can tell by the ring. You’re so positive that you pick up the phone and greet the person by name. But surprise. It’s someone else, someone famous, someone awesome, someone who would never in a hundred years call you—but here that person is, unmistakably on the other end of your phone.
You stammer and shake. You almost hang up in terror, but you can’t let yourself do that. This opportunity is too great. You don’t know what to say, so you simply stand there with the receiver getting sweaty in your hand! That’s something like the way Isaiah reacted when he suddenly encountered God himself.
GROUP DISCUSSION. What’s the most surprising or unexpected message you have ever received, whether by phone, mail, e-mail, in person or any other way? How did you react?
PERSONAL REFLECTION. When have you prayed for something and instead of receiving an answer about that request, you simply had an overwhelming sense of God’s reality or God’s presence?
It was 740 B.C.; Uzziah, Judah’s strong king for half a century, was dying. Assyria, the evil empire to the east, was restless and threatening. The prophet Isaiah went into the temple in Jerusalem to pray. He got more of an answer than he expected, and a very different answer too. He received a vision of the holy God that shook him to the core of his being! Read Isaiah 6.
1. Describe in your own words what Isaiah saw and heard in the temple.
2. Put yourself in Isaiah’s place as much as possible. What effect(s) do you think an experience like this would have on you?
3. What can we learn today about God from this long-ago vision of Isaiah’s?
4. What do you think it means to say the Lord is holy (v. 3)?
5. How did Isaiah react to what he saw and heard, and how was his reaction dealt with (vv. 5-7)?
6. In what ways has the Lord purified and prepared you for ministry?
7. God told Isaiah that his ministry would be to make people spiritually blind and deaf (vv. 9-10)! Why would God give him such a strange task?
8. Spiritually speaking, what leads people’s senses to become dulled and their hearts to become calloused?
9. How are judgment and hope combined in verses 11-13?
10. How does this entire passage point up the holiness of God?
11. What are some ways the holiness of God should affect believers’ behavior?
12. How would you like God’s holiness to affect your own life or ministry?
There are many songs based on Isaiah 6:3, from the hymn “Holy Holy Holy” to the song “I Saw the Lord.” Sing one or two of these and offer prayers of adoration for God’s holiness.
Now or Later
Look up Matthew 13:14-15 and John 12:39-41 to see how Isaiah 6:9-10 is applied to the ministry of Jesus Christ.
This week, try to be aware that you live in the constant presence of a holy God. Note ways in which that certainty affects your behavior. Note also what especially brings God’s holiness to your mind.